To Save Our Future
by crimson canary
Summary: Naraku has been destroyed. However, nothing comes without a price... (sorry. I'm no good at summaries)


**To Save Our Future**

Some love is meant to be,

Is fated by the stars,

It is born to set us free,

And heal pain's ugly scars.

     So much blood.  The ground was stained with it, reeking of death.  Too much blood shed in a single day, the blood of friends and foes alike.  It made no difference; everyone who had fought was dead.  However, there were no enemies among the dead.  This chilling fact was emphasized by two pristine corpses, side by side.  One was the body of a young with black hair, her pretty features marked crimson, and the other was her adversary, a man with curly black hair.  

     There were others, the bodies of a man still holding a staff in his hand and a woman with a large boomerang at her side, split in two.  Those of a young girl with plain features and straight, white hair and an older woman with her black hair in a bun, a fan tenaciously grasped in her hand.  Her dead eyes were still open, staring off into the red mist that seemed to surround the battlefield.  There was the battered body of a man with gorgeous white hair, now streaked with red, who had two strange-looking dog's ears protruding from his head and a rusty blade nearby.  Suddenly, he twitched.  This man was still alive.

     Presently, he awoke, his yellow eyes snapping open startlingly.  Slowly he sat up, gazing at the havoc this last battle had wreaked.  His eyes fell upon the corpse of the man with the curly black hair and he smiled softly.  "It looks like you've finally gotten what you had coming," he grunted.  "Victory is mine, Naraku."  His eyes continued to scan the battlefield until the girl laying beside his nemesis caught his eyes.  "Ka... Kagome?" he moaned.  The man struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain which seemed to fill every inch of his worn frame, and hobbled to the youth's side, checking for a pulse.  "No, please.  Even a faint pulse.  Please, Kagome," he murmured, but he was already certain that she was beyond his reach.

     A single tear squeezed itself from his eye and lethargically made its way down his cheek, dripping off his face onto Kagome's.  He drew close to her, inhaling her scent for the final time, and whispered, "Kagome, you can't be dead.  I haven't told you yet.  I haven't told you how I feel."  _How I feel?  he wondered.  __What do I feel for her?  She was only a pathetic shard detector!  No; she had been much more than that, and he knew it.  He had denied it, fought it, buried it, but in truth, it had been her he had seen in Kikyou, not the other way around.  It had always been her, from the moment she had pulled that arrow from his chest.  He had just been too stubborn to notice, too stupid to admit it.  He had been too shy to tell her.  And now it was too late._

     He cradled her in his arms, rocking back and forth.  _Is this victory?  If it is, I wish I had lost.  Victory is to be the last one standing, but what difference does life make if you have no one to live it with?  No; I have not won.  Naraku has, because he took Kagome and everyone else into death with him._

     The others he could stand losing, but Kagome... she was a caring person, and she had always put others before herself.  She had been weak but determined.  The world had needed her, needed her more than it would ever need him.  He felt something prodding his chest, and loosened his hold on Kagome just enough to see that it was a knife handle.  _Probably what killed her.  He drew it from her flesh, and with it came a fountain of red, soaking his gi.  His attention caught by the blade, he let Kagome drop to the ground.  For a few moments, he stared at the blade, mesmerized, and then, clasping it in both hands, drew it back, ready to stab himself through his middle and end his misery._

     A glimmer of pink stopped him mid-strike.  In Naraku's hand rested the completed Shikon jewel, glowing with a gentle light which warmed his soul.  The knife slipped from his hands as he snatched the Jewel instead.  "You have caused quite a bit of trouble, my friend," he told the gem.  "Now it is time to undo some of it."

     He closed his eyes, and concentrated with all his might on one thing: _Bring back Kagome.  Pink, healing light began to emanate from the Jewel, slowly making its way towards the dead girl.  It surrounded her, and she began to glow.  She opened her eyes for a moment, and let out a strained, "Inu Yasha?"_

     "Kagome!" he cried joyfully, and rushed to her, forgetting his injuries momentarily.

     "Inu Yasha..." she mumbled.  "It is pleasant to see you one last time before I... move on."

     "What do you mean?" Inu Yasha exclaimed.  "I wished you back to life with the Jewel!"

     "Certainly, you have... but I can not accept it.  It is a half-life.  I would be like Kikyou, forced to steal the souls of the living to prolong my life," she murmured, her breaths growing more strained.

     "No, please!  Don't go," he wept.

     "I have no choice, Inu." Kagome's eyes were brimming with concern.  "Don't you see?"

     "Kagome," he moaned, trying to hold back the tears which threatened to escape.

     "Promise me something, Inu," she said raggedly.

     "Anything."  Despite his efforts, more and more teardrops began making the dazzling descent from his eyes to his chin.

     "Live, Inu Yasha.  Use the Jewel to become a full-demon.  A real youkai.  Don't let memories of me kill you," she whispered.  Now her eyes began to close, and the pink light that had engulfed her began to fade gradually.

     "Kagome," he sobbed, tears flooding his cheeks.  He drew in a deep breath.  "I have to tell you that I love you.  I have defeated all manner of monsters on your behalf, but I don't think that I'm strong enough to live without you."  His confession, however, was in vain; she was already a corpse again.

     Suddenly furious, he kicked Naraku's side viciously.  "This is your fault, you bastard!  If it hadn't been for you, I would never have lived to see this day, you know.  I could have become a human.  Could have married Kikyou.  My children would be here, not me.  No, they wouldn't even _be here!  They would be leading, normal, happy lives.  Because you wouldn't exist," he roared, the sudden noise causing several birds to leave their refuge in a nearby bush._

     "If only I could fly like you," he wished, watching the retreating forms of the birds.  "I would fly and fly and fly until I was free.  I would fly until there was no more anger or hatred or evil," he glanced at Naraku, "in the world.  I would fly until the end of time."

     He watched as the birds faded from his vision and then looked down at the Jewel in his hands.  "Well, here goes nothing," he sighed.  He concentrated, making a wish for the second time that day.  _I wish that I were a full-demon.  That I'm no longer an outcast.  That I can be accepted amongst my own kind.  A deep pain began in his stomach, and he doubled over, only to let out a yelp of agony as it transferred to his scalp, letting out a throbbing that forced him to cry out in anguish.  Everything went dark._

Those days we used to spend together,

Those nights, never apart,

This loneliness now lasts forever,

Trying to heal my broken heart.

     When he awoke, the sky was a rich, ebony black.  He breathed in the crisp night air, feeling refreshed.  New energy coursed through his veins, and suddenly he felt glad that he was still alive, even though Kagome hadn't made it.  _Suddenly, I have the strength to live.  Not only that; I feel better than I have in ages.  I suppose that a bit of honest rest can do wonders.  He began to dig several holes; he certainly couldn't leave everything as it was.  It would be an iniquity to leave his friends bodies where wild animals could desecrate them._

     Within a matter of moments, he had four graves, one for each of his friends, and then, noticing Kagura laying there, just as dead as his friends, he added three more for Naraku and the two servants there with him.  _Just because I hated them doesn't mean that they don't deserve a proper burial._  After a bit of searching, he found large rocks for the grave markers, and with his claws engraved the names of the fallen on them.  He set one on each grave, to show who lay within, feeling a painful stirring in his heart as he placed the last above Kagome's mound.

     As an afterthought, he drove Tetsusaiga into the dirt beside her headstone.  "I didn't need you before Kagome," he explained, "and I won't be needing you now, either.  This way, there will always be a piece of me here to watch over her."

     "How charming, brother.  Placing our father's sword at the grave of a human woman," a frigid voice said from behind him.

     "Sessoumaru," he snarled, turning to face his foe.

     "How very perceptive of you, half-breed," Sessoumaru stated with an aristocratic wave of his hand.  He gave Inu Yasha a disinterested look, took a whiff of the air, and his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as he drew back into a fighting stance.  "What is this?  Something is subtly different."

     "I see that you're finally taking me seriously, you bastard," the "half-breed" in question retorted.  His emotions were dulled by the loss of Kagome; thus, he said this with much less emotion than he would have normally.

     "Bastard?  If one of us is a bastard, it should be you, with your human mother," the regal demon said with an almost-smile.

     "We'll see who's the bastard when I kick your ass!" Inu Yasha yelled, lunging at his brother fiercely.  Even this phrase lacked its usual intensity.

     Sessoumaru gracefully dodged his brother's attack, though he didn't escape it unscathed; he had been struck in the side.  Now it was Sessoumaru's turn to charge, and he struck Inu Yasha squarely across the back.  With a snarl, the half-demon turned with a speed that even startled his brother and drew back his hand, a strange green glow escaping from it.  The older demon's eyes widened as he recognized his own poisoned claws attack.  

     He managed to catch Inu Yasha's claws, drawing his brother close to him.  Holding him firmly, he moved aside the hair obscuring his brother's forehead and smiled secretly.  His brother's existence was no longer a disgrace to his family.  Before the fight could escalate any further, Sessoumaru did what he did best and vanished, leaving a very confused Inu Yasha behind.

     "Get back here, you coward!" Inu Yasha called after him, but he received no response.  "I know you're still here.  I can smell you!"

     Still there was silence.  Inu Yasha sighed and laid back on the ground.  _I beat my brother in a fair fight.  I didn't need Tetsusaiga for once.  He glanced up at the inky sky and gasped.  __Obviously, I didn't need the moon, either._

     He looked at his hands in wonder, marveling at the strange purple marks which now adorned his wrists and the hooked claws growing from his fingertips.  Smelling water nearby, he ran in its direction and gazed at his reflection on the cool surface.  He smiled to see two thick, purple stripes on his face, longer fangs, and the pointed ears of a _real demon, not the dog ears he had lived with for his entire life.  Slowly, as if he were about to break the illusion, he moved his bangs to the side of his face so that he could see the single red crescent moon on his once-plain forehead.  With a laugh, he howled at the empty night sky, challenging the world to a fight.  __Finally, after so long, I have what I've always wanted, he thought, glancing back at the clearing where his friends were buried.  __But not without a price.  Nothing ever comes without a price._

     Inu Yasha wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry as he walked away from the place where so many had died.  The place where he had nearly joined them.

I will wait for your return,

Nigh five-hundred years,

Letting my fiery passions burn,

To incinerate my fears.

     "Why can't I leave?" he wondered, looking at the grave.  It had been nearly a year, and every time he had attempted to leave the site of her grave, he had suddenly found himself right back where he had begun.  Five times, he had tried to leave, and five times he had returned, fearful of leaving her alone.  "Kagome, you told me to live, yet your memory binds me to this spot."

     A familiar scent caught his attention, and he turned to face his brother.  "Good afternoon, Sessoumaru," he stated with a mock bow.  If he didn't know better, he would have said that the demon's stoic features twisted into a smile.

     "For a year you have guarded this wench's grave," his brother responded, leaving out a greeting.  "For a year I have come here for the Tetsusaiga, and for a year, you have been here, waiting for me."

     "I have issues letting go."

     "That is certainly an understatement.  You speak to her grave as if she can hear you, and you listen for the response.  Can you not simply find a new woman?"  Sessoumaru asked.

     "Kagome was... different.  You do not even know how much so," Inu Yasha said with a sigh.

     "Explain," his brother commanded.

     "Well, she was from the future.  About five-hundred years in the future, I believe," he began, unsure of how his brother would react.  Rather than saying anything, Sessoumaru simply quirked his eyebrow, indicating that Inu Yasha should continue.  "She fell through a well in her shrine, and ended up here.  I'm not sure _how_ she did it; all I know is that only she and I could travel through time.  I have been to her world several times."

     "...and?"

     "She's dead because she came here!  And I can't even tell her family, because for some reason, the well is closed!  Does any of this even make sense to you?" Inu Yasha bellowed.

     "Why do you not simply wait for her?  Five-hundred years is hardly any time to demons such as ourselves.  You can 'save her future' if you will," Sessoumaru explained, calm as always.

     Inu Yasha seized his brother in a savage bear hug and then ran off into the distance.  _Kagome, when you're born , I'll be here, waiting for you.  I will always be waiting for you._

     As soon as his brother left sight, Sessoumaru smiled wide enough to give anyone who knew him properly a heart attack and drew the Tetsusaiga from Kagome's gave.  "Finally."

When you're born into this world,

I'll be right there beside you,

And once the truth has been unfurled,

You will love me, too.

**AN: **What'd you think?  Too long?  Too short?  Too stupid?  A waste of time?  Please, let me know!  I'm thinking about making this into a multi-chapter, angst story... I have lots of good ideas, too... Forgive my lame poetry.  And I am aware that it moves too quickly, which is a problem that I, regretably, can not remedy.

... and now, because I CAN'T write a purely serious story...

**Bloopers...**

"Well, here goes nothing," he sighed.  He concentrated, making a wish for the second time that day.  _I wish that I __had all the Ramen in the world.  A pile of Ramen this, no, THIS big._

As he was about to drive the Tetsusaiga into Kagome's headstone, Inu Yasha stopped.  "Hey.  Wait a second.  I'm not about to give up this gorgeous blade for some silly GIRL..."

As soon as his brother left sight, Sessoumaru smiled wide enough to give anyone who knew him properly a heart-attack and drew the Tetsusaiga from Kagome's gave.  "Finally we are reunited, my Preciousssss."


End file.
